Cinder
by TheDarkLord'sMistress
Summary: A companion piece to 'Inferno', showing behind the scenes occurences to go along with the third installment of my 'Everybody's Darling' series.
1. Chapter 1

_I guess this could be construed as spoilers in a way, so read at your own discretion, darlings x_

 _also, bad things happen to good people_

 _)o(_

"Right, time to get out of here,"Johanna said, eyes flitting between the big screen, her watch and the entrance. Effie, her bright smile at odds with the fear in her eyes, shook her head."They don't have enough of a headstart yet."

"They do, Trinket, we're already over Plutarch's schedule,"the Victor replied, though she couldn't help but be impressed with the other woman's determination to make sure Haymitch and the kid got away safely."Come on, now, or I'll leave you behind."

It was an empty threat. Through the years, no matter how much Trinket annoyed her, she had sort of grown on her; in her own irritating way, she was part of the odd little almost-family the Victors had built for themselves. Not to mention that Johanna didn't even want to _think_ about what Haymitch would do if she left his precious Escort behind.

Effie eyed her warily, either wondering whether she meant it or maybe just realising Johanna was right. Whatever her reasoning, she sighed and nodded."Fine. I suppose you are right."

They had barely made it two corridors when Johanna knew they wouldn't make it. She couldn't quite put her finger on what was off, but an icy dread coiled in her stomach when they rounded a corner. The guards didn't look particularly threatening, nor was their presence surprising, but there was the sudden knowledge it was too late, the same feeling she had when she'd stepped into her too silent home after defying Snow's orders, knowing what she would see before she'd found the bloodbath in her kitchen.

Trinket's hand on her arm brought her out of the memories."Johanna,"she whispered, and that she used her first name was enough for the Victor to realise she knew, too."Those aren't Emmanuel's men."

For a few seconds, Johanna searched for a way to get them out. Then she realised there was none, her mind still racing frantically."Scream. Tell them I tried to kidnap you. You don't have to go down with me."

It was a chance in a million, but it was surely better than nothing.

"I don't,"Effie agreed."But I will, if it comes to that. Keep moving."

Side by side, they marched by the guards, who gave them strange looks but didn't act. Guard after guard they passed, Johanna full of annoyance and swears when they stopped them, Trinket feigning polite indignation - she was Twelve's Escort, afterall, and since last year, that meant something. Not to mention her cousin was their superior.

They almost made it out of the building. But almost never won anyone the Games, and this was not so different.

Johanna was actually rather impressed with the slew of curses the Escort could come up with. That was her last thought before the gurad she was struggling against slammed something hard into her temple.

* * *

Johanna awoke with a throbbing head that was bedded on something much more comfortable than the rest of her body. Blinking open her eyes, she found Effie's face right infront of hers. Well, that made no sense."Trinket?"

"Oh god, I thought you wouldn't wake up,"Effie said, her eyes gleaming with tears."They just threw us in here and left."

Now everything came rushing back to Johanna. The Games, the failed plan, the guards. Which explained the dank cell and why she was laying in Trinket's lap. She sat up slowly, not bothering to shrug off Trinket's hand."How long was I out of it?"

"Two hours,"the Escort supplied readily, and Johanna raised her eyebrows at the exact answer. Effie shrugged."I counted. There wasn't anything else to do."

"You counted. For two hours."Johanna dropped her aching head into her hands."You know, I'm not even surprised."

"I need to know when it's midnight,"Effie admitted quietly, and Johanna's head snapped up to stare at her. Pity, understanding and a begrudging respect made Johanna reach out and squeeze Effie's hand."They got away. They would have already rubbed it under our noses if they hadn't."

* * *

Johanna was right about that, of course. Because when they brought in Terra, bruised and bloody and snarling insults at her captors, they made a point of stopping infront of their cell just long enough for the three women to stare at eachother in horrified silence before dragging her further down the corridor. Johanna kicked at the wall in frustration."I'd hoped they wouldn't get her. She's in more shit than I am."

"What do you mean?"Effie said, hardly able to keep the tremor out of her voice. Her mask was cracking, and fast. Johanna considered lying, but didn't think it would do any good."I'm nothing to them, but they can't prove shit as long as I don't crack. Not that I'm assuming they won't kill me without prove. But Terra? She can't deny anything, not if our people get her niece out. She's dead the second they get their hands on Olive's parents. Then they have new leverage on the girl and Terra can be made the example. Traitor, rebel, all that shit."

A shudder went through the Escort, but she shook her head determindly. "If they start killing traitors, I'd be first in line. It's high treason for a Capitolite to -" She trailed of, vaguely waving her hand to encompass all her missteps in the eyes of Snow's regime.

Johanna barked out a dry laugh."You're bait, Trinket. Pressure point, leverage, whatever you want to call it. For the Mockingjay _and_ Haymitch. They won't kill you."

Neither said it, but they both thought that execution might be preferable to the alternative.

* * *

They were huddled into the corner fartest from the door when it was suddenly opened, just long enough for something to be flung into the cell. Effie recoiled further and Johanna pushed her slightly behind herself without thinking. The thing lay on the ground, the dim lighting making it hard to tell what it was, especially after the bright flash of light from the corridor seconds ago. Effie hissed into her ear."What is it?"

Then, the thing made a sound, too soft to be called a whimper. _Mutt_ , was the first insane thought to pop into Johanna's mind. But why would they throw a half-dead mutt in with them?

Effie was already pushing past her, half stumbling, half crawling towards the figure, mumbling _Oh my god_ under her breath over and over.

"Trinket!"Johanna admonished, but it was too late. The Escort had already gathered the thing up, staring at Johanna in horror."It's Curie. Johanna, it's Curie."

Johanna scooted closer, the dismay in Trinket's voice seeping through her body. It really was the poor little thing from Three. Effie was rocking her, whispering meaningless reassurences.

"Did the others get out?"Johanna said, and Trinket threw her a glare."Surely that can wait!"

But she was eager to know herself, so she didn't protest when Johanna pushed the girl. Curie gave only jerky nods or shakes of her head, but it was enough to clear up some things. The Capitol had also gotten Madge, Katniss, Jonsa, Tia, and Sapphire. As far as the girl could tell, the rebels had rescued the others and gotten away.

"Where do you think they have the others?"Effie asked quietly, some time later when they'd retreated back to their corner, Curie curled up between them, half in Effie's lap. Johanna shrugged warily."At this point, I'd say no news is good news."

* * *

Johanna staggered along between the guards, trying hard to get a sense of where they were taking her this time. It was hard with the blood that kept trickling into her eyes. They kept changing everyone's cells, and she figured they wouldn't return her to the same one. She'd been in solitary for roughly the last three days, but now she was too battered for them to spare the others the sight of her. It was how it worked. On what she guessed was the second day of their imprisonment - meals were sparse, torture repeated, time hard to tell - they'd taken away Effie and thrown Terra in some time later, coughing blood and unable to speak for hours. Psychological warefare, that's what it was.

Most cells were still close enough that they could hear eachother scream.

She staggered into the dank room they pushed her into now, finding a lone figured huddled in the corner. Relief washed over her. Logically, she had known that they wouldn't kill the Mockingjay's sister, but none of them had seen hide nor hair of the girl so far.

"Katniss,"she said cautiously, and the girl looked up, a wild gaze in her eyes. Johanna moved closer and crouched down."You okay, there?"

The girl looked unharmed, other than what wounds she had gotten in the arena, but her eyes weren't really in focus. Johanna carefully reached out and touched her arm."Katniss?"

The girl pulled away, raising her arms as if expecting a blow, and started to scream. That's when Johanna, by now used to the constant almost-darkness, spotted the small puncture wounds on the inside of her elbow. Injections. She sighed, settling against the wall furthest from Katniss, deciding to give her some space until whatever was going on with her stopped. She pulled her legs to her chest and let her forehead drop to her knees."God, what have they done to you?"

* * *

Johanna jerked awake to screaming. She couldn't remember what it was like to hear anything else when you woke up. The terrified shriek was Jonsa, she knew, bile rising in her throat from the sheer thought that she could tell the others apart by _that_. She scrambled to her feet, but before she could do anything else, there was yelling and a commotion further down the hall. Johanna leaned against the door, remaining silent afterall. One of the others had beaten her to it.

Then a guards voice cutting through the other sounds."Leave the girl, take that one instead."

She stared into the corridor as Effie was lead past, somehow managing to look both smug and terrified. That first night, with the girl from Three huddled between them, they had promised eachother to keep the children as safe as they could, no matter what the cost. Later, they had roped Terra and Gloss in aswell, and so far, the guards were either too stupid to catch it or just didn't care. A bit of both, Johanna suspected.

She curled up in a ball and pressed her hands over her ears. That they had planned it didn't make the blood-curdling screams any easier to listen to.

 _)o(_

 _now we have a general idea of what is going down_

 _jo and effie are such lion mamas like this is canon don't argue_

 _I made myself sad but I just missed them soooo much_

 _there will be more_

 _who do you want to see next? (madge and annie are my personal favs rn but I'm open for anything)_

 _you can also ask for literally any promt, actually, doesn't even have to be for Inferno (i seriously neglected my thg os collection)_


	2. Chapter 2

_Olivia-Ivy gave me a really interesting prompt, and it's Gadge so I obviously couldn't resist. Half of (or more) it is actually set during Littlest Victor and not Inferno but sssshhhh guys, let's pretend ;)_

 _Gale's POV coming up_

 _)o(_

"I'm sure I'd think that, too,"Madge says, tears pooling in her eyes. The Capitol audience hangs on her every word, and so does my family. She's lost even me, now. Until this moment, I knew everything she was going to say. "If it weren't - if it weren't -" She breaks off, as if it all were just too much to bear. Her hand flutters up to rest on her stomach."If it weren't fo the baby."

The words stop somewhere between my ears and my brain, unable to be processed. She didn't just say that. She can't possible just have said that. She would have told me. No way did she just say that.

I tear my gaze away from the screen, which costs me an absurd amount of effort. Ma, Vick, and Rory are all staring at me. _Okay, so apparently Madge did just say that._ Posy is urgently tugging on my mother's skirt, but she doesn't even seem to notice her."Ma? Ma! Why's Madgey crying? Is she sad? Doesn't she like babies? Ma, did Gale put a baby in Madgey? How did he -"

"Yeah, Gale,"Rory says, slowly recovering and even snorting out a badly-concealed laugh."Did you put a baby in Madge?"

"That is _not_ funny." My mother gives him a glare that would've made me wet myself at his age. The little shit just shrugs and grins."Aw, come on, Ma. No way is that true. Right, Gale?"

 _Of course it's not true_ , I want to tell him, _don't be stupid_. What comes out of my mouth instead sounds rather like I'm about to throw up, which is actually quite acurate. Rory's smile falters and he looks worried. "Right, Gale?"he presses, now sounding slightly panicked.

Instead of answering, I bury my face in my hands, trying to think straight. I want it to be impossible, I _need_ it to be impossible. The thought of Madge in the arena is already too much, but this? I don't want to believe it's true. But it could be. Shit, it could be.

I'm vaguely aware that Ma orders the kids out of the room and then her hand is on my back, drawing soothing circles, the way she always did when I was younger. I calm down again, looking up at her with a shaky attempt at a smile.

"Are you alright?"Ma asks softly. I only nod, and her face immediately hardens again."God, you idiot boy! I can't believe -" She's on her feet now, pacing back and forth infront of the old, worn couch I'm still unable to move from."How could you be this _stupid_ , this irresponsible?" She stops and frowns at me."Is this why you asked for my ring? You could have at least told me, Gale Hawthorne, you -"

"Ma, it's not like that!"I cut her off, now on my feet aswell, even though I'm not entirely sure when I got up."I didn't even know she was going to say that. I'm sure it's not true, okay?"

She grabs my chin and forces me to look her straight in the eyes."But you _can't_ be sure, can you?"

That's when I can't hold it together anymore, letting her pull me into an embrace and shamelessly sobbing as she mutters _my foolish, foolish baby boy_ into my hair and pats my back.

* * *

Someone's handed me a baby and I can't stop staring at the little thing. I'm sure I'm looking like a complete idiot, wordlessly gaping at the baby. A baby with stunningly blue eyes that make my heart shatter into a thousand pieces. I haven't let myself think about Madge lately, or Katniss, because Coin made it perfectly clear that rescuing them is not a priority at this point, and I would drive myself mad if I did not fill every waking minute with work. But this perfect little human makes my resolve crumble within seconds.

I can't help but imagine another blue-eyed baby, that might or might not be real, with my dark hair and Madge's button nose, tiny hands pulling on Madge's blonde curls like Vick used to do to Ma. But that serene vision is almost instantly replaced by the image of Madge, bloody and scared and crying, hands protectively curled over her stomach.

I can't take this uncertainty any longer. _Prim_ , I think. Prim must know. I hand the baby back and turn to find Prim in the giant, make-shift hospital.

* * *

With the peacekeeper attack and the aftermath, I didn't get to speak to Prim alone. Now that I'm sitting next to her hospital bed, I've almost changed my mind again. How will knowing make this any easier? Then again, can it be any harder than it is now, no matter what her answer?

"Gale, what's wrong?"Prim asks quietly. I must've been staring into space for too long. I shrug, making myself face her."Madge,"I say simply."Is she - is she really -"

"Pregnant?"Prim finishes and I nod."No, she told me she'd made it up."

Again, I nod."Good, that's good."

And it is, it's for the better that way, of course it is.

But a part of me is disappointed.

 _)o(_

 _cause you just know Hazelle is the kind of mum who makes sure you're okay before she drags you_

 _& Posy is just the cutest :)_

 _and Gale aw Gale babe what can I say_

 _also Schroedinger's baby lol (idk this was funny to me, Madgey is boith pregnant and not pregnant because Gale can't know for sure)_


	3. Chapter 3

Annie sat in the cell, covering her ears and humming to herself. She'd heard enough for one day. That she was marked the insane, broken girl held two distinct advantages, if you were optimistic enough to look at it that way: They never did anything worse to her than starving her and making her watch her friends suffer; and they didn't seem concerned with discussing important information in her earshot.

Now all she had to do was wait for them to end her solitary confinement, pass on what she had heard, and hope one of the others' knew what to do with the knowledge she'd gathered.

She was relieved when they threw Effie into her cell. They were doing something to the girls from Twelve, something that made Annie almost afraid of them, even if she couldn't quite say why. And Johanna - well, Johanna always took the worst of it all, and what she had to tell the others was bad enough without seeing the twitching wreck her friend was slowly reduced to.

Annie crawled over to the escort and whispered into her ear."They're going to bomb Thirteen in three days."

* * *

"They're going to bomb Thirteen tomorrow,"Effie told Johanna as soon as they ended up in the same cell again."Annie overheard it. What do we do?"

The Victor shrugged."Hope their bunkers hold up." She sighed at Effie's scandalised look."Trinket, what do you expect from me? There's nothing we can do. We could feed the info to Katniss, hope they get her on TV, she lets it slip and they actually air it and don't kill her. There's so many flaws in that idea, I'm not even sure we can call it an idea. Beginning with the simple fact we probably won't even see her in time."

Effie leaned back against the wall, closed her eyes and willed herself not to cry. The bunkers would hold up. They had to.

* * *

"No - I don't - where am I? Take your hands off of me! Where am I?"

Katniss's panicked voice was ringing through the dungeons, as Johanna had started calling their prison with a hint of her usual sardonic humour. It had almost made Effie laugh, but it was just too accurate to be funny. The girl was shrieking incoherent nonsense now, screaming something about her sister, about Prim being dead.

Effie pulled herself up, careful not to use her left arm. She'd need Jo to set it for her, or maybe Gloss, if he ever showed up again. The thought didn't matter right now, not when Katniss was so clearly certain her sister was dead. She couldn't be. Could she? Effie staggered as close to the little opening in her cell door as she dared. By her estimate, the bombing wouldn't occur for another two hours.

Katniss's shrieking didn't subside, a single guard was pacing the corridor, frantically speaking into his communicuff for new orders."Knock her out,"he finally yelled at his comrades."She's too far gone. We're to bring them the escort instead."

* * *

Once she understood that the rebels were breaking through into the Capitol program, she knew that they were live. Thirteen had to be watching, they had to.

She forced herself to smile. They were most likely going to kill her for this, but hopefully it would buy the rebels some time, buy little Prim some time, assuming they believed her. They might not. But Haymitch would, of course he would. They'd kill her for this. She'd never see him again.

She said it anyway.

* * *

There were hands on her, oddly gentle, tending her injuries rather than causing new ones. That made no sense.

Slowly, she opened her eyes. Or at least, she tried to. They were swollen shut. She tasted blood.

"Effie?"the voice was too tender aswell."Effie, are you okay?"

"Am I dying?"she asked, because that was the only explanation. Johanna let out a strangled laugh that sounded more like a sob."No, not if I have anything to say about it. Why would you even say that?"

Effie grinned, glad that she didn't have to see whatever grimace that ended up being."You called me Effie. You _never_ call me Effie."

"Oh, shut it and go back to sleep,"the victor admonished, helping her settle into a more comfortable position, ignoring the fact that such notions as 'comfortable' had stopped existing weeks ago. As she let her exhaustion take over, she heard Johanna speak again, just one soft word.

"Effie."

 _)o(_

 _my babies for life and longer, such sestras_

 _"there's some things you can't go through without ending up being friends" (or something similar, too lazy to look up the quotes tbh)_

 _I also might have just in this very second realised that I could totally ship this wtf has my brain just done_


	4. Chapter 4

_Once again a prompted chapter, because I cannot resist Gadge. Gadge is love, Gadge is life. Gadge is sadness and despair.  
_

 _I'm afraid I fucked up with the whole 'cute' and went with more of a... 'angsty pain' type of thing...? like I swear I_ aimed _for cute but it just went in a different direction_

 _a slightly not so cute direction  
_

 _because I suck_

 _I'll right something cute(r) later on, I promise, this ended up being waaaay before the rescue for the most part_

 _)o(_

Madge awoke with her heart pounding as if it wanted to escape her chest. For a blissful second, she thought it was the aftereffect of some nightmare. Then she remembered.

The arena. Katniss shooting at the forcefield. Explosions. Hovercrafts.

Her eyes flew open and she sat up, slightly dazed. She didn't seem to be injured, really, not more than she would have expected after the explosion. But this dank room was unwelcoming, and someone had sedated her and left her here. It hadn't been the rebels who'd taken them from the arena, that much was clear.

"Hello?"she whispered into the room, unsure of what to expect. There was a little shuffling and then an equally timid reply,"Madge?"

"Katniss?" Relief flooded through her veins, quickly replaced by distress. She'd hoped they hadn't gotten her friend."Katniss, I'm here."

"Stay there, I'm following your voice,"Katniss replied. Madge nodded, though Katniss wouldn't know in the near complete darkness."Okay. Can you remember what happened? Where do you think we are?"

Her friend's fingers found her ankle, then she settled down next to her, their backs against the wall."Nowhere good, that's for sure."

Madge squeezed her hand and said nothing.

There really was nothing to say.

* * *

She looked down at the injection mark on her arm, frowning. She couldn't remember how it got there, or when. She couldn't even recall seeing anyone. But the mark was _there_ and it had to mean something. Madge vaguely remembered nightmares - horrible, terrible, much too real nightmares - but that was about all. And she wasn't surprised to be having them, she was locked in who knew where, in enemy hands.

Still, it had to mean something. They had _done_ something. That she didn't know what just made it worse.

* * *

They left her alone for so long she was almost sure they'd forgotten about her. She had been listening to screams for so long that she was glad of the loneliness that made time cease to exist, though. Johanna. Effie. Gloss. Johanna. A woman she thought must be Olive's aunt, Terra. Effie. Johanna. Johanna. Johanna.

When the footsteps stopped outside her cell, she was sure they must have finally gone too far, killed the victor, and she was next.

She was dragged to her feet and out of her cell into the harsh, neon light of the hallway. The hands holding her up were overeager and then one was on her cheek, a twisted parody of a caress. She shuddered and turned her face away, bile rising in her throat.

"Pretty, that one,"one of the guards remarked and her blood ran cold. The other laughed before admonishing his colleauge."You know she's to be left in peace. Only the venom for her."

The first guard dragged his gloved hand along the side of her throat."Seems a waste."

"She's the control group,"the other guard replied. Madge thought that should scare her, but all she could think about was that that animal needed to take his hands off her."See how much they can pump into them. D'you realise what would happen if they accidentally let Everdeen overdose?"

Now it was the guards' turn to shudder.

* * *

Effie leaned over the girl in concern. The girl's heart was racing and she hadn't woken in what Effie estimated was about two hours. From Johanna, Terra, and Gloss - and even herself - she had gotten a good feeling about how long one would remain unconcious from what. But so far, they couldn't figure out what exactly they were doing to the girls from Twelve. They seemed healthy enough, really. Though, compared to the victors, most anyone would seem healthy.

Suddenly Madge shot up, her eyes wide with fear. Without thinking, Effie reached out to touch her arm."It's okay, Madge dear, you're -"

She never got to finish that sentence, Madge suddenly lunging forward, her fingers curling around Effie's throat as she knocked her to the ground. An inhuman scream was tearing from Madge's mouth and Effie realised there was something very, very wrong with her. She also realised that she couldn't breath.

After a futile attempt to pry Madge's fingers from her throat, she groped around the floor until her hand closed around a loose piece of concrete. With a prayer that she wouldn't seriously injure the girl, Effie slammed the improvised weapon into Madge's temple.

Madge fell down in a limp heap and Effie drew in sharp, ragged breath after breath, cradling the unconcious girl against herself and quietly crying."It's okay, Madge, it's okay, we'll be okay."

* * *

They'd chucked her back into her cell after another session of injections. Madge was trying to piece her memories back together, seperating truth from the hallucinations of the past few ours.

Katniss. Katniss was real, and she was her friend, and they were hurting her too. She could hear her screaming even after the venom wore off. Mutts. Real, but not here, never here, only part of the nightmares. Prim. Safe, somewhere, not here, safe, never here, real and safe. That's why they were hurting them instead. Not Prim's fault, though. _Remember who the real enemy is._ Haymitch. He'd come for them - no, that wasn't right, was it? That was something she'd heard, not something she knew. She'd heard Effie say so - implore the universe, really - between sobbing and Johanna telling her to hold still so she could - do something, set something. She wasn't sure, but it had been real. Gale - Gale was - Gale is -

She frowned, chewing on her lip as she furiously fought to place the name. He was important. She knew he was important. She had to remembered that name, if nothing else. It was something she couldn't afford to lose, even if she wasn't sure why.

Feeling around the floor of the cell, she found a small, jagged piece of metal.

* * *

"Oh fuck, what did they do?"Johanna demanded, staring at Madge's bloody arm even as she was in a much worse state. Madge shook her head."No, not them, I did it."

With a frown, Johanna grabbed her arm and pulled it towards her, staring down at the four simple, already slightly infected letters carved into her soft, light flesh. _GALE_.

"They're trying to make me forget,"Madge offered timidly."I can't forget his name. I'm already forgetting so much."

Johanna looked at her as if the words physically pained her, then crawled over to one of the vents near the floor."Trinket? You there?"

There was a quick exchange Madge found she couldn't strain herself to follow, then Johanna gently but firmly directed her infront of the vent. Effie's voice came drifting through to her, speaking of silver eyes and dark hair and sullen looks. Of bravery and hard shells and hearts of gold underneath. Of snarky comments and calloused hands and tender touches.

The words were right, and true, and stirred up memories she thought had been lost. Madge locked away every word inside of herself like a great treasure, and only briefly wondered if Effie was speaking of Gale at all.

* * *

There was shouting, echoing footsteps, gunfire all around. It wasn't as orderly as Boggs had hoped, but the Commander had already found and secured Katniss, and that meant Gale didn't have to feel guilty when he completely focussed on finding Madge.

He had been so intent on finding her, for weeks and weeks, that he hadn't once stopped to consider what would happen when he did. But even if he had, he would never have pictured her shrinking further into her cell when he broke open the door and stepped inside.

They both were frozen for a few seconds, wordlessly staring, then her name fell from his lips like a prayer, or an oath.

She moved forward ever so slightly, her voice so timid he was unsure if she'd actually spoken at all, "Gale?"

He nodded, not allowing himself to think about why it had been a question, and gathered her into his arms. It didn't matter why, all that mattered was that she was alive and he could get her out of here.

 _)o(_

 _I just straight up threw Hayffie all over this aswell because I am literal trash when it comes to Hayffie_

 _just... just throw me in the bin, I'm fucking Hayffie trash and I don't even care_

 _also they are such a lovely parallel to eachother tbh it's just so omg okay_

 _hayffie AND gadge trash up int this fic_


End file.
